The Meq  The Pearl
by Cr0wlette
Summary: A story using the basic idea of the Meq but changing certain aspects


**A/N Hey everyone, I wrote this story in highschool as an assignment. It's loosely based off of many stories I've read, Including the Meq and Time Dancers. Enjoy!**

**The Pearl**

This man wasn't afraid to die. He told me so. He said it hurt, but that he didn't want any medication, he said Peter never got any, so neither would he. This man wasn't a usual patient, He wasn't a Mexican; although darkly tanned, he was clearly a foreigner. I told him I had something that would make the nasty infection in his leg hurt less but he refused. I checked his pulse, again, in the 6 hours he had been in my charge I must have checked it 25 times, he wouldn't let me do anything else. I asked him if I could turn on the fan, one of 4 in the room. Our branch of the Red Cross doesn't have air conditioning; fans are about all we have to quench the heat that can sometimes soar to 40 degrees. There's no way his story was true, it couldn't be. I can't tell you how many times I've heard dying men tell tales of grandeur; I can't tell you why, but I believed this one.

He pushed through the under growth of another overgrown trail somewhere in southern Mexico, along the border of Guatemala. It was hot, but that was nothing new to Stirling Taylor, he'd been traversing this landscape for 27 years, 8 months, and 12 days. Ahead of him was a hut, whose roof was a tiled affair, much different from the palapa's he was used to seeing in this part of the country. The door was painted a pleasant blue and the two windows on either side were square with a wood cross imbedded into the glass. "Maybe this is it." He thought as he moved closer to the peculiar abode. His pack grew heavier with every mile and the disappointment weighed a tonne. The door to the home opened before he was within 10 feet, behind the door stood a woman, average height and weight. Her one disparity was the dark brown, not black hair cropped at the shoulders. She had brown eyes and a large scar that went from her right temple to the bridge of her nose. Stirling didn't think this effected her looks however, he thought they added to the already substantial beauty of this woman. "uhm, hi" was all he could manage at the time. "Hello" she said, her voice was angelic, like something you would hear in a dream; it or something equivalently magical. Stirling's grin was insatiable as he just stared at her, "Are you the Pearl?" he sputtered. She smiled, "My name is Yaldi, but they call me the Pearl now adays. What brings you to my humble hide-away?"

"I've been looking for you forever." They were inside now, within her home was even more beautiful than without. The size of the house appeared to double in size when he passed through the threshold. She seemed to have artefacts from all over the world inside her cabin. Stirling had been to most of these places during his journey; Vases from the Pyrenees, a teak table from northern Africa and even a miniature replica of Big Ben in London. "Forever, you said? Forever's a very long time." Her voice was angelic, a thousand little church bells resounding for a jubilant celebration. He just smiled, a smile that shed off years and of heart break and broken hope; for the first time in 12 years Stirling Taylor smiled. He remembered the last time he smiled.

Some say the Silver adder is the most deadly snake on planet earth. For Peter Taylor it was. They had been in search of the Pearl for 17 years now, they started where most voyages do, on the knee of a grandfather. He told them the story of a girl born in a small village in what is now Italy, she lived on a small olive vineyard. 657 years before Christ. Yaldi was her name. She lived a normal life up until she turned 24, when her parents took her aside and told her that she was different, much different. Yaldi was the last of her kind. The Rey are a race who can be traced back before the first Heztratu, or ice age. Nobody knows where they came from or why they're here, but they are. Visually they are no different than humans. They used to be a prosperous race but a small faction of religious fanatics believed only God should be able to endure all things and devoted their lives to hunting them down; after various crusades and witch hunts there were only 4 left. All Rey age normally until they reach the age of 24, when their body stops growing. Their hair never greys, their eyes never fade and their skin never dulls. Their Grandfather told Peter of this mystical race of immortals and he became instantly enamoured by them. Their ability to live forever, cure illness, and grant immortality was a draw too strong to resist. Their grandfather told them that the last he heard of Yaldi was that she was somewhere in the interior of Australia, near Queensland. That was over 60 years ago. Mr. Taylor had died when the boys were young, but he didn't leave them down and out. Through his various business dealings he had ensured that the family had enough to live very comfortably. They packed their bags and headed west. The train from St. Louis to San Francisco wasn't too bad, it was Peter's first time out of Mississippi and he enjoyed the jostling of the massive train on the tracks. Their grandfather told them to look for Mrs. Wui, she owned a bar in Queensland and used to employ a woman who, in the 12 years she worked at the Opal Tiger, never seemed to get any older. They stayed in Queensland for only 3 weeks, Mrs Wui had been killed by a young man in an argument over the price of a drink and her son had moved back to Tokyo just 3 months ago. They went from Queensland to Tokyo, following another lead to Athens, Yaldi was on the move, they were getting closer. "Grandfather says that you don't find the Rey, that the Rey find you." They were arguing again. Stirling thought that his brothers quest was ridiculous and that they should abandon it because they weren't getting any closer to finding The Pearl. "Stirling, if you hate this so much why don't you just go back home?" It wasn't the first time Peter gave Stirling the ultimatum. Stirling never would have told him, but he promised Mrs. Taylor that he would watch over Pete, no matter what. He hated this insane voyage, he hated searching after something no one was sure existed. Chasing no more than a whisper in the corner of a bar; the murmurs of an old gypsy. Peter loved Brazil, they heard it was great for surfing, but the Taylors had little time to themselves. They left Brazil, across the Atlantic to Spain where they heard the Pearl was working for a politician, protecting him if you will. She wasn't there, but a very large man who smelled of putrid fish told them they may be able to find her in London, five, six, seven years went by before they heard anything else about the whereabouts of their prey. *********************** (cities), all crossed off the list and they had nothing to speak of the Pearl but a piece of ancient Jade with the words "where time in under water" beautifully carved in Latin.

Where time is Under Water, Where water is under time

Peter fell terribly ill on **{DATE}** after being bitten by the **{SAME SNAKE AS BEFORE}** There was nothing Stirling could do, he wasn't a doctor and the nearest hospital was hundreds of miles away. Peter died never knowing if the Pearl existed. His last words to brother Stirling were that he should give up and go home. Peter's death pushed Stirling on further, there was no way he was going to give up when his brother had given his life to this quest, He had to find the Pearl, there was no way he would let Peter's death be in vain. Stirling Taylor called in every favour owed to his family and managed to get a decently viable clue, The Pearl had an irresistible attraction to Diego Riviera and his art work. Stirling boarded the next ship to Mexico and arrived in Mexico City on **{DATE}**. He bribed the clerk at the auction house for a list of all purchasers of Diego Riviera art work in the last 20 years and started working the list of known addresses. Stirling soon found out that it was harder to find people in Mexico than it had been anywhere else he had been. It took him 3 months to work his way through the list and he felt no closer to the end of the quest. His complete lack of knowledge of the Spanish language didn't help either. Stirling was truly alone.

"What do you mean you don't want it?"

"I don't know, I just… don't anymore." Stirling and Yaldi were seated across from each other in Yaldi's beautiful cabin. There were 4 big dogs, probably great danes, but Stirling had never seen anything like them before. Stirling couldn't take his eyes off this beautiful woman. Her hair was beautiful, it looked silky and soft. Her eyes were stunning, they looked as if they held the innocence of youth with the experience of age. They were a gorgeous brown, deep and absorbing. Her lips were two perfect parts, if only he were 10 years younger.. alright, 20.

"you're the first one to actually find me in over 200 years, I thought my story had finally died…" she sounded sad, in all her life she had been something revered, something that people sought for, now it seemed that that the legend of the Rey was withering away, and she couldn't.

"Why did you spend all this time looking for me if you don't want immortality?"

It was obvious that the Pearl was confused, she started examining this man more closely, he had a beard, about 4 or 5 days growth, a few years ago it would have been a strong brown, but now his once glorious facial hair was invaded by grey's and whites. He wasn't necessarily an old man, about 48, but the sun damage on his face made him look substantially older. He was not poor, his hiking gear was of the highest quality and retained its strength after years of obvious wear and tear. Stirling's fingers were rough, like a man who's spent his whole life sanding aged mahogany wood and reading leather bound books. "I guess I'm like a dog who's chasing a car, I've spent so much energy trying to find you but now that I have I don't know what move to make next." He wasn't stupid, Stirling spoke like someone who had learnt a lot over years of traveling and this was evident in his vocalizations. "T he Truth is," Stirling went on. "Peter and I started this journey in search of an eternity of adventure. Living forever would give us the chance to do anything we wanted. A chance to see anything we wanted, to do anything that wasn't possible to humans. We set off on a quest to conquer the world. Now he's gone and I'm an old man seeking to be young again. I think I've already achieved that. I've seen some of the most beautiful places on earth and met some amazing, and some not so amazing people. The search was complete long before I met you, I just didn't know it." He spoke with conviction, a man who wouldn't take any bullshit from anyone; a man who had seen things no one should have ever seen and a man who was tired of turning over rocks, a man who just wanted to go home.

Stirling stayed in Yaldi's house for four days. The Pearl wouldn't let him leave without first hearing his whole story. She told him everything, from Boston to Mexico. They talked about what it was like to be immortal, even though he didn't want her gift anymore he was still amazed by it. "Every couple decades everyone you know dies, it's a very depressing life style." She said with a chuckle. Every time The Pearl smiled Stirling tried to count her perfect teeth. She had 26 teeth , and they were amazing, each perfect pillar spaced perfectly, none trying to invade his neighbours space. Stirling thought about her teeth while he chewed his thumb nail. "You shouldn't do that you know, especially not around here." Stirling thought about this, there were a lot of dangerous parasites where he was. Then he thought about his company, he wondered if, at some point this mystical beauty had worked as a doctor… Possible, he thought.

After three days Stirling took his leave. The perfectly oiled hinges of The Pearl's ancient alabaster door slid perfectly closed without a sound. He looked back at the beautiful home, through a beautiful window at a beautiful woman. He wondered if she would miss him, Probably not he thought, the amount of people she knew…

As he walked away Yaldi thought of the peculiarity of this whole situation; Stirling was only the third person to see her for who she was, and the other two had only realized when it was too late. She watched him walk, a limp in his leg, he was clearly in pain but he asked that Yaldi do nothing. She let him walk away.

Stirling Taylor walked, he just walked, for 7 hours untill a truck picked him up and he checked himself into the Red Cross. He was tired, he missed his brother, he wanted to sleep.


End file.
